Ten user adoption tips to avoid software project failure
Summary
In a report published in 2020, a Forbes Technology Council’s expert panel listed 14 of the most common reasons software projects fail. Although “not enough emphasis on soft skills” was at the bottom of the Forbes list, more than half the reasons can be related back to what Amanda Ellis, Mint Group Modern Workplace Delivery Lead, attributes to the reluctance of users to actually adopt and use the software. “Even small, seemingly simple, projects fail – and very often for the same reasons: end-users simply don’t embrace the new solutions and make them part of their everyday operations,” she explains. Yet, when budgets are tight, the first thing that gets cut is usually the funds earmarked for “soft” aspects of the project like user adoption and change management. Rushing to get things done and demanding a switchover on a particular date before the system has been properly tested and issues resolved will result in users going back to using whatever they had been using in the past.
